Podium

I AGREE 100 percent with Hal Boedeker's evaluation of the Republican National Convention coverage. C-SPAN's ''straightforward presentation has proved indispensable.'' I tuned in each night, knowing I would see and hear everything as it was presented, and I enjoyed every moment.Occasionally I would flip the remote for a split second during a speech to see what the major broadcast networks were showing. I was horrified not to see former President Ford's speech and others being broadcast. My advice to them is to keep the camera on the podium, and give the public the best possible coverage.

CORAL GABLES — Mike James was running a little late Tuesday afternoon. The Miami senior running back was supposed to meet with reporters before Al Golden's scheduled news conference. But James had things to accomplish. So he had to wait. Because of the wait, UM officials decided to let him use the podium since all the TV cameras were already set up. As you can see, he's quite the personality. And he has a hard time not smiling. Follow our UM coverage on Twitter at @ByCasagrande .

Republican Party officials Monday unveiled a model of the podium for their convention this summer in Houston, a red-white-and-blue series of stairs and platforms that will hold 1,200 reporters and include a hydraulic elevator. The podium, designed by Emmy award-winning art designer Robert Keene of Burbank, Calif., will rise 50 feet inside the Astrodome and will include two 15-by-20-foot TV screens. The elevator will allow the speaker to be seen at just the right height for TV viewers.

LONDON — The color of medal and the totality of domination in Saturday's Olympic women's singles final were not nearly as hard to comprehend as the wonder of Serena Williams ' tennis career. She has now set the bar so high that ensuing reachers understandably may not even try. When added up, it is well beyond her 6-0, 6-1 victory over Maria Sharapova in the gold-medal match on Centre Court at Wimbledon . And that was mind-boggling. Williams has now achieved the Golden Slam of tennis — at least one career victory in each of the sport's major events (Australian, French and U.S. opens and Wimbledon)

CORAL GABLES — Mike James was running a little late Tuesday afternoon. The Miami senior running back was supposed to meet with reporters before Al Golden's scheduled news conference. But James had things to accomplish. So he had to wait. Because of the wait, UM officials decided to let him use the podium since all the TV cameras were already set up. As you can see, he's quite the personality. And he has a hard time not smiling. Follow our UM coverage on Twitter at @ByCasagrande .

VILLARD-DE-LANS, France -- The winner of the Tour de France gets the yellow jersey. He gets money, endorsements and the praise of cycling's worldwide fans. And, as millions of male viewers look on and envy the charisma of that skinny little guy, he gets a kiss from the podium girls. Actually, he gets anywhere from two to four kisses from each of the two beauties who stand next to him on the podium. They also zip him into his jersey and hand him flowers and a stuffed animal, as if he's a kid in a hospital.

Almost from the moment he became music director of the Florida Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Jean has been the most visible figure in Central Florida's arts community.Not only does he mount the podium more than a dozen times a year to lead the FSO, the area's largest professional performing group; since taking the job in July 1986, he has handed over his image to be the FSO's image. When the orchestra needs plugging, it is Jean's countenance that flashes on the television screen, Jean's voice that speaks from the radio, Jean's face that peers from brochures, magazine covers, even posters confronting travelers at Orlando International Airport.

By J. Craig Crawford and Anne Groer of The Sentinel Staff, February 23, 1992

New Hampshire Democratic winner Paul Tsongas was humbled as he prepared for a victory speech Tuesday night. Not long before his nationally-televised talk, aides were scrambling to find a podium.It seems that a rented podium had not arrived.Displaying the can-do spririt of Tsongas' dogged campaign, his aides quickly stacked some tables and draped red-white-and-blue bunting over them.The mix-ups continued as a phone suddenly started ringing while Tsongas was in full battle cry before his adoring audience.

Gov. William Weld was released from a hospital Sunday after tests showed it was a touch of the flu that caused him to collapse during a college commencement. ''I'm not back to 100 percent,'' Weld said outside Deaconess Waltham Hospital before returning home, ''but night and day compared to yesterday.'' Weld was stricken Saturday while receiving an honorary law degree from Bentley College. He wavered, grabbed at the podium and collapsed into the arms of others on the podium.

By J. Craig Crawford and Donna Blanton of the Sentinel Staff, July 24, 1988

FLORIDA'S DELEGATION WAS one of the first Jackson reached after his thunderous prime-time speech to the convention last week. He stepped down from the podium and worked his way around the floor. The civil-rights preacher spotted Charlie Whitehead, chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, and grabbed his longtime friend for a bear hug.

LONDON — At the end, Travis Stevens looked as if he'd been in a car wreck. Blood spotted his face. A trainer had wound white tape around his fingers and wrist, adding a strip across the cuts over his left eye. "Devastated" was the word Stevens used to describe the disappointment. "My grandfather died last year," he said. "And this pretty much feels the same way. " PHOTOS: Travis Stevens at London Olympics Everything the American judoka had accomplished Tuesday — roaring through the early rounds of the 81-kilogram division — had dissolved into a pair of late losses that kept him off the podium at the 2012 London Olympics.

BAHRAINI domination of the Al Bareh International Regatta Championship was finally broken yesterday, as the first non-local race win went to Egypt 's Ahmed Raghab. Aside from Raghab's triumph in the Laser Radial class however, it was business as usual as Bahraini sailors once again swept the boards in the other three race categories. The third day of action in this, the 19th, edition of the event at Bahrain Sailing Club's Al Jazayer beach yesterday started with experienced campaigner Sami Kooheji finally getting the better of his fellow Bahraini Abderrahim Abdulla in the Standard Laser class.

Gameshow host Defending champ Ben Bailey ("Cash Cab") will have a tough act to follow if he is victorious again; in 2011, his ill-timed trip to the men's room delayed his arrival to the winners' podium. He'll compete against Meredith Vieira ("Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"), a previous winner in this category who displays genuine empathy for her show's contestants, energetic Wayne Brady ("Let's Make a Deal") and easy-going Todd Newton of the Hub's "Family Game Night. "Overlooked: Drew Carey , who consoles losers and cheers on winners daily on "The Price Is Right.

ATLANTA — Bobby Bowden sat up close near the podium in a big ballroom on the bottom floor of the downtown Marriott Marquis here. To his right was Jimbo Fisher, the man who succeeded him at Florida State. And across the table sat Steve Spurrier, his old nemesis for so many years when Spurrier coached at Florida. Bowden received a standing ovation when he rose and walked behind the podium. He was the keynote speaker at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes breakfast. He cracked jokes and some one-liners.

A crowd of over 200 gathered at a Selection Sunday party at Ember to watch as officials from Florida Citrus Sports announced the participants to this year's Orlando bowls. FCS president Michel Champagne, FCS CEO Steve Hogan, and emcee Marc Daniels took the podium to make the announcement. A crowd of over 200 gathered at a Selection Sunday party at Ember to watch as officials from Florida Citrus Sports announced the participants to this year's Orlando bowls.

Tiger Woods will speak publicly for the first time since Monday's divorce proceedings when he finishes Wednesday's pro-am round at The Barclays. Watch: ESPN, no earlier than 12:30 p.m. Note: Though PGATour.com streams video from many sessions, Wednesday's Q&A won't make the website. Rather than come into the tournament's interview room, Woods has opted to take questions at a podium near the 18th green.

And now the Nasdaq is having stars like Michael Jackson on the podium Thursday opening the stock market. How low is the market going that it has to use "celebrities" to shore up the sagging market? Bill France Oviedo

JUAN MONTOYA, a 23-year-old Colombian rookie is aiming for a record-tying fourth straight CART victory today in the Motorola 300 at Madison, Ill. He will start from the pole for the second consecutive race.Montoya drove around the 1.27-mile Gateway International Raceway oval at 182.778 mph. A fourth straight win would match the feat first accomplished by Al Unser Jr. in 1990, and equaled by Alex Zanardi in 1998.``I was expecting to get a podium [top three) finish early in the year and maybe win at a road course,'' Montoya said.

TAMPA -- Several hundred Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans filed into Raymond James Stadium to watch the NFL draft on the giant screen Saturday. When Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the Bucs' first-round pick, the crowd erupted into boos. Welcome to town, kid! "You have to take it all in stride," said Josh Freeman, the former Kansas State quarterback and new face of the franchise. "I hear the fans are great here. If I go out and play well, they'll have no complaints." Judging by the talk-radio buzz, e-mails and results of Internet fan polls, very few of the Tampa Bay faithful foresee Freeman justifying the investment new Coach Raheem Morris and new General Manager Mark Dominik sank in the 6-foot-5, 248-pounder when they made him the No. 17 overall pick in the draft, and just the fourth quarterback in team history taken in Round 1. The naysaying atmosphere, though, didn't seem to bother Freeman on Monday.

Anton Coppola turned 91 last week, and he celebrated the occasion by doing what he loves: He went to work. Coppola -- yes, he's one of those Coppolas -- is in Orlando as guest conductor of Orlando Opera's mammoth production of Turandot, Giacomo Puccini's tale of a mysterious prince who wins the love of a cold, bloodthirsty princess by answering three riddles. To Coppola, Turandot (which opens Friday at Carr Performing Arts Centre) represents the best attributes of Puccini's work, a combination of mythical themes and characters leavened with human-scale foibles and emotional shortcomings.